I’ve just come back from Marbella after celebrating my friend Jasmine’s hen do and I thought I’d share some of the highlights of the trip!

Our AirBnb

Because there were a lot of us going away on holiday, we decided to opt for an AirBnb, this way we could all be together rather than be separated in hotel rooms. As everyone knows, AirBnb can be hit or miss, we had settled on one before that did not have many reviews. But after a bit of mulling over we changed our minds and went with this villa.

I am so glad we trusted our guts and went with a place that had a few more reviews, because this place was stunning. There was room for everyone, with two to a room, each room had their own bathroom, there was a spacious living area which was great for us to eat at, get ready at and even play games.

I’d highly recommend looking into staying there if you are a large group in Marbella. It is just a 15 minute Uber/bus ride from the main town and a short walk to the marina at Puerto Banus. There is also a pool near the villa which we frequented and we usually had it to ourselves. Not sure if it’s due to being there in the off season or what but it was great.

The perfect place if you want a chill holiday, especially if you are planning nights in. It was also a reasonable price between 8 people for 5 nights so again, would recommend.

Jack’s Smokehouse

We stopped here for lunch on our second day and it was probably one of the better restaurants we went to. Maybe not in terms of food, the food was probably your average kind that you’d get in the area but the vibes there were great.

Our waitress, Suzie, was a highlight, she was super friendly and made sure we had everything that we needed. She gave us recommendations for nights out and even took photos with us when we left haha. Honestly, just want to say that if I ever go back to Marbella, I’m intent on finding her and saying hi.

But yeah, aside from that, the music they played was great, the cocktails were amazing and all in all it was a great afternoon. If I had to describe summer vibes those were the ones. The restaurant wasn’t busy, we basically had the upstairs to ourselves, sun was shining, music blaring and good food, drinks and company. What else could you possibly want?

Someone on Google compared this place to a TGI’s and I’d have to agree. So if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, definitely stop here.

Arkham Escape Room

I feel like it’s no secret that Jasmine loves an escape room, so obviously one of the things we had to do was book one for her hen party! And I think of all the things that could have gone wrong, the escape room was at the top of the list.

I remember looking up websites for the escape rooms and none of them were good. I’m not saying your website has to be amazing, but if you’ve put in minimal effort it doesn’t look good for your business. Plus, I don’t think a lot of the places had reviews which also made it difficult to find one we wanted to book.

Originally, we were going to go to Prison Island because it was a franchise and at least we knew it would be decent. Though Prison Island is actually in Malaga and not Marbella, so it would’ve been a lot of travel for us. So we decided to go with Arkham escape room because it was close by and to be honest, I think it had the best website/room description.

This escape room was really good, it’s hard to talk about escape rooms without giving anything away but this one was very well designed. The story is Hansel and Gretel themed and the backstory is strong and on top of solving the puzzles to escape the room there is an added challenge.

I will say the room is scary in that there is a live actor that can come in occasionally, this is not something stated on the website and so we were not prepared but I’m putting it here so you are warned. I think I would’ve done better without the possibility of someone coming into the room but I guess that adds to the experience lol.

Sadly because there were a lot of us we did have to do the room in two groups, one group made it out in time and one did not. Sadly mine was the one that got out after time ran out but we still completed it and that’s what counts.

Before going into the room the game master did say people find escape rooms in Spain harder than in other places and I’d have to agree. The ones I’ve done at home weren’t as difficult, though they aren’t super easy either. I really enjoyed the challenge of this one and would definitely recommend it if you are looking for an escape room in Marbella. Plus, we were able to do the room in English which is a big advantage lol otherwise we’d never have made it out.

Joy’s Live Bar

We went to Joy’s twice while we were away. The first night, we didn’t stay long because we had to get up for the escape room the next morning but we enjoyed it there, enough to come back anyway haha. It was their 9th anniversary the first night we were there though the celebrations were kind of tame? I mean you wouldn’t have really known it was an anniversary unless you saw the sign on the door. That or we weren’t there long enough to know. Though we did get our photo taken a lot that night, and we were only there for about an hour.

We went back the next night to stay a lot longer and there were no photographers this night, at least none that I saw. But the vibes were still good, the drinks were a standard price so nothing special but the music was good and the live singers/entertainers were also good.

I do wish there was more space to dance there though, since we were mainly there for dancing, we were kind of cramped into this one space that wasn’t really a dance space, more like a gap between the tables for people to walk through but was large enough to dance in. It’s a small venue which I think is a shame considering the performers all seem larger than life so I think if the space was bigger it would be better.

I also think we were the youngest people there by about 10 years, which isn’t the worst but it was definitely noticeable. On top of that, we definitely had to fend off some creepy men which I guess is to be expected anywhere, but it’s not great. Though the bouncers were on the lookout because I think they did speak to some of them which was nice. I don’t recall this, though the other girls did, so that’s something.

Aside from that though we did have a good time, despite the small dancing space we still made the most of it and were there til around half 3 in the morning. So it was definitely a fun night.

There are plenty of other places the girls and I went while we were away but these four were definitely the big highlights that I wanted to mention. I really enjoyed my time away with the girls and hope we will make this annual girls’ holiday a tradition because it was so much fun last year too.

In the meantime I will be resting up and preparing to go to Paris in May, it’s only for a couple of days but it should still be good! So if you have any recommendations, hit me up. I plan to be living my Emily in Paris life to the fullest while I’m there.

A few weeks ago my friends and I went on a trip to Lisbon and I thought I would share some fun things that we did while we were there! I am by no means a travel blogger, but after being on my first trip out of the country since COVID, I could definitely consider it, if I had the time and the money lol.

Boat Tours

On our first full day in Lisbon, we decided to take a boat tour. It was with Rent a Boat and my friend Jasmine had booked it for us. We weren’t really sure what to expect but it turned out to be an instant crowd-pleaser for all of us.

When we were getting onto the boat we saw a lot of people choosing to sit in the designated seating area at the back of the boat, but when the tour guide said we could sit at the front we decided to head up there immediately. And honestly, if you are going to pay for a boat tour why wouldn’t you sit at the very front? This was great because there was enough room for all four of us and also it gave us some privacy away from the other people on the tour so it was like we were on our own private boat tour.

The tour itself was really chill, and there was music playing and the tour guide offered us some ‘green wine’, which we had never heard of but we were instant fans. To quote the tour guide when he offered us the wine “you are Irish, I don’t even have to ask”. The only thing he was asking was “do you want more?”. Now I don’t know if it was because we were special or if the tour guide was offering everyone wine a second (and third/fourth) time but I will not complain.

In terms of a guided tour though, we did not get much which was fine by us because we just enjoyed being on the water in the sunshine and enjoying the views. Our tour guide did come down and give us some ideas of what to do while we were in Lisbon as we hadn’t planned much for the trip yet. And he was really friendly and enjoyable, I think if we had been with the rest of the main group we might have gotten more of a guided tour.

And that was our first boat tour of the trip! Yep, we went on another one lol. That night after the tour, we all kept talking about how much we enjoyed it and so we decided to also book a nighttime tour. We did look at sunset ones but they are hella pricey because that is an obvious peak time.

So the next night we once again arrived at Belem marina for our second boat trip. This one was with Get Your Guide – we did originally want to book with Rent a Boat again, but they were not available. Though I think this was actually a good thing because we had a different experience with this company.

We got lucky with our night tour that we were actually the only ones on the boat, there was supposed to be a second group joining but they didn’t show. So it really was a private boat tour this time.

Like before, we opted to sit in the front, because again you gotta have good views. That being said, at night the tour was much colder, thankfully though the company provided blankets for us which kept us warm during the trip. Also because we were the only ones on the boat we got more of a guided tour, so the tour guide was able to tell us about all the attractions we could see along the river banks. I appreciated this because we didn’t get that the first time so it was nice to learn a bit more about what we were seeing. And it wasn’t repetitive which is good.

Unlike the last tour I found this one more chill and relaxing, I guess because it had been a long day and also there’s something about being away from all the noise of the nightlife and sailing along the water. Also in terms of wine, we did get one glass which was included in the package, which was more what we expected from the tour anyway.

And that concludes all our boat tours in Portgual lol. Honestly, I would recommend doing more than one, maybe not in the same trip if that’s not your vibe but they are definitely worth it because it gives you a different view of the city. And also the different times of day were nice because the contrast between both of them was nice to see.

And Portugal offers a lot of different boat tours, we saw plenty of them on the water as we were sailing though I would highly recommend the sailboat ones. We saw a lot of tour boats that were filled with a lot more people and that didn’t seem as enjoyable but might be for you if you prefer hop-on and hop-off kind of tours. There are also tours that include snorkelling and lots of other things so it’s definitely worth checking out!

In terms of pricing, the tours weren’t super expensive either which was nice. Both were around £30 per person and if you book private ones, then the more people you have the less you pay as the price is split between people. So 100% would recommend it to everyone.

Pink Street

I am not sure if this place is for everyone but it’s definitely a pretty photo op during the day. Pink Street is a street in Lisbon that is lined with bars/clubs on both sides and is party central at night.

My friends and I decided to go for drinks after we had been on our daytime boat tour and it was Friday night and packed to the brim with people. Usually not my scene, especially because we have just come out of a pandemic but we decided to be optimistic about it.

We walked up and down the street a couple of times, trying to find a bar with seating which was almost impossible, but we finally found a table outside a bar called Liverpool, named after the football team. Not exactly Portuguese culture but the only place with space and we took advantage.

I’m not going to say it was a glamorous night because in reality, you were sitting in a very crowded area in the heat of the night and the noise of the goings-on around you but we still had a great time. It worked out well we had this table, and there was a waitress who was taking drink orders for the bar so she would come by every so often to take our order. I honestly felt bad for her because she must’ve been getting all kinds of abuse and such throughout the night but we did our best to be polite and non-disruptive. We’re not that kind of people lol.

So we sat and we enjoyed our drinks, enjoyed seeing the parades of bar crawls and hen/stag do’s that passed us by.

Eventually, we did have to use the bathroom and the inside of the Liverpool bar is tiny, definitely wouldn’t like to be crammed in there with a lot of people. And also the female toilets only had one toilet which isn’t great for a bar but thankfully there weren’t many people inside, and so not many people in the bathrooms either.

And then around 3:30 a.m the staff were packing up the tables so it was time for us to move and probably go home because we didn’t realise it had gotten so late so quickly. The drinks were strong and we were enjoying our time so we had no idea it was going by so fast. The bar wasn’t closing at 3:30 though, they were just putting the tables away we could have still gone into the bar as they were open till SIX AM. Yeah, SIX IN THE MORNING. Crazy.

We did not feel like going inside so we decided to find a spot to stand and finish our drinks before heading home. Even at 3:30 in the morning, there were people everywhere. It was crazy, especially when in Northern Ireland clubs close at 2 and everyone is in Mcdonald’s by 3.

And so yeah our Pink Street adventures were pretty tame compared to most going on around us but I’d still say pretty wild for us lol. Like I said I wouldn’t say it was a vibe for everyone and I feel like if we hadn’t gotten sat at a place with a table it would have been a bit miserable. So I’d say it could be hit or miss if you decide to take a trip.

We did walk through the next day while trying to get somewhere and like I said, I think it’s nice for photos but otherwise not worth a trip, unless you’re looking to get smashed.

Timeout Market

I feel like Time Out Market is one of those things that everyone mentions on their list of things to do in Lisbon. It is a big food market located close to Pink Street in the middle of Lisbon.

We decided to take a visit the afternoon after our Pink Street adventures and it was packed to the brim with people. I don’t think it would ever not be busy, to be honest, but it’s definitely a fun vibe. The market is set up in long cafeteria-style tables, and then the outside of the room is lined with various food vendors. So if you are ever undecided in the friend group about what to eat, this is the place because everyone can go to different places, or you can all share little things from various places.

I will say it’s not ideal if you are looking for anything private or intimate as you are sharing a huge table sandwiched between groups of people but it’s nice for lunch or something light.

The waiting lines for each vendor vary greatly as my friends and I scattered to our selected restaurant and came back to the table with our buzzers. Though I’d say waiting in line to order actually takes the longest. Once you get your order in then the food is prepared quite quickly.

Needless to say the food was delicious and everyone enjoyed it. Lauren and Jasmine even went to get dessert from one of the vendors.

So yeah a bright and fun place to go if you aren’t sure where to eat. I also think that if you enjoy the food from a vendor there that they have full restaurants you can go to if you want more of the food so definitely worth checking out. Though I’d say if you aren’t a fan of the crowds to not stay longer than needed, I found it quite draining to be there for a long time. But that could’ve been the late-night out before, who knows?

Electric Scooters

We saw so many people zooming about on electric scooters while we were away and we decided to take them for a spin ourselves after Time Out Market. To use them you just need to download an app corresponding to the branding on the scooter, scan the QR code, and off you go! There is no shortage of scooters or electric bikes in the centre of Lisbon, we saw so many of them around and it’s such a handy mode of transportation.

Something to note about the scooters though is they are heavy. Like heavier than your average Razor scooter as a kid and definitely more painful to the ankles. So basically, doing a lot of pedalling on them is a lot of work, as I soon found out because it took me a while to get to grips with the scooters. Like you’d think you can just step on and go but no lol.

You basically pedal a little bit and get your balance and then SLOWLY press on the accelerator until you feel comfortable to zoom off. Unfortunately for me, the balance did not come quickly lol we first took the scooters out in a busy area and trying to navigate through people and also get your balance was not the easiest.

So, later on, we were in a quieter area and took out some scooters again where I got to practice my balance and it was much easier to figure out when you weren’t worried about hitting anything or anyone. Plus, the scooters can get up to some speeds so you really need to spend time adjusting and figuring out what works for you.

Once we got the hang of the scooters they were super fun. We wanted to use them at every opportunity, especially because we were along the river and it was a long straight path towards where we were staying. It was so fun zooming down the street at night with the girls. Definitely, something we’ll remember for a long time.

So if you want something fun and easy to try out, get some scooters! I will now be sad if I go elsewhere on holiday and they don’t have scooters.

Sintra

Sintra is not actually in Lisbon as it’s a separate town but I wanted to include this in the post anway because this is something the girls and I did.

Sintra is a town about an hour by train from Lisbon, and it contains four castles that you can visit and is perfect for sightseeing and pictures…unless you go in the rain which we ended up doing. So you go on holiday expecting sunshine and warmth and then the next thing you know it’s cold and rainy. Not fun, but something you can handle especially if you’re from Northern Ireland.

Even though the weather wasn’t great it was still a good day. We went to the Pena Palace and Moorish Castle. First was Pena Palace as it was at the highest up the mountain. It definitely would have been better if it was sunny, as the views from the palace were obscured by the mist, but it did clear up a bit by the time we had finished the palace interiors and had some lunch at the cafeteria.

I am thankful the weather cleared up a bit so we had some views, it would have been disappointing to continue to see nothing from such a great vantage point. But still would recommend a clear day to visit. It was also very busy waiting to get into the palace, we were waiting for an hour in line, I think if it was sunny it wouldn’t have been bad but I assume everyone was wanting to get inside to escape the rain.

The rain wasn’t actually too bad, it was a light mist at most but I think the altitude and wind made it a lot worse. So if you do see rain in the forecast, bring a rain jacket!

After Pena Palace we made it to Moorish Castle, again there would have been great views if the weather hadn’t taken a turn again. Moorish Castle was stunning and while climbing up all the stairs was a journey it was one I’m glad we took, even if we couldn’t see anything from the top I am proud we made it all the way to the top. Plus the views that we could see were stunning.

I would love the opportunity to go back with better weather to see the full thing and also explore the gardens of Pena Palace, as we decided to skip those due to the weather.

So those are all the things I would recommend doing in Lisbon! There were a couple other things the girls and I did like go to a flea market and also the beach but I feel like those you can kind of do anywhere. And in terms of where to eat and restaurants, my friends and I basically just walked along wherever we were until we found a menu with a vegetarian option for my friend Lauren and also something everyone else could eat. Unfortunately for us, Portugal is seafood heaven and none of us actually eat seafood lol.

But yeah, I hope you enjoyed this blog post, and if you are interested in seeing more of our Lisbon adventures I did manage to vlog a little of each day so you can check that out below!

Now for me, it’s time to return to regular life and start planning my next holiday…

Just back from another trip and am honestly looking for some much-needed rest haha.

I didn’t plan for this trip and Liverpool to happen so close together it just kind of worked out that way, but yes, I’m just back from London.

This trip was very different from the other one, mostly because I didn’t go with my family this time I went with my boyfriend. And unlike last time, we didn’t have very many plans so it was more laid back.

I was super excited about this visit to London because we were finally going to see Dear Evan Hansen! I had bought tickets to the show when they were first released almost 6 months ago, so the fact it was finally time to see it was great.

Sadly though Dear Evan Hansen wasn’t until the end of the trip so we had to do something to keep ourselves occupied until then.

The first day we arrived early and decided to do some shopping. I wanted to check out the Pokemon pop-up store that was in Westfield so we headed out there. Naturally, I wasn’t expecting to get into the place because I heard there were queues for days and they always ended up selling out of things but thought we might as well check it out.

When we got there it was no surprise that there was a huge line, even though it was the middle of the day and some things had already sold out. I wasn’t going to wait in line only to be told I wasn’t going to get in or that I wasn’t going to be able to buy something I really wanted. So we gave it a miss, which is a bit sad because I wanted to know what the store looked like on the inside, but it wasn’t really worth the queuing. So I guess if I want to see a Pokemon centre I’m going to have to go to Japan.

We spent most of the day in Westfield shopping centre, mainly because it was giant. Honestly like ten times the size of any shopping centre I have ever been to. I can’t imagine it being your local place to shop, it’s insane.

After that, we went back to the hotel to chill before having dinner and a kind of early night because we had been up from 6 a.m. So it felt so good to sleep.

The next day we headed out to do a bit more shopping, this time in Oxford Street. Though honestly when I say shopping, I mean we went to the expensive department stores and just looked around.

One day I would love to afford fancy things in Selfridges and Harrods but in reality, all we walked away with were two bottles of Voss water, which is about as fancy as we get haha.

On Sunday we went to Madame Tussauds to see all of the wax figures. I have always wanted to go to one of those museums and it was fun. I mean there were quite a lot of people around some areas so it was kind of hard to get a good photo with your fave famous person but it was all good.

I even got to see the Zoe and Alfie wax figures which I was excited about, I remember watching the videos of them making their wax figures years ago so it was cool to see them in person.

Then after that, we got some food and also went to China town to check out bubble waffles. My friend Jasmine suggested we try them so we did and they were great! Though the weather was a bit cold for it, they were still enjoyable.

We also headed to the Christmas market in Leicester Square which was super cute. We only have one Christmas market in our town so it gets boring and repetitive after a while so it was nice to go somewhere new. We picked up a couple of cute things for our apartment there.

To end the night we went out to a comedy club, wasn’t sure what to expect but it was actually really fun! I enjoyed it a lot and would definitely go back.

On Monday, before Dear Evan Hansen I took a trip to my work’s London offices. They are a lot fancier than my local offices and have a lot more floors lol. One of my co-workers also showed us around Canary Wharf which was nice.

Then we went back to the hotel to chill out for a bit before we went to the show.

The actual show was amazing. I cried a lot. I mean you can just assume from now on I cry at basically everything, TV shows, movies, books, theatre shows…everything. But this time I wasn’t expecting to cry so much. I wasn’t sobbing but just picture big fat tears rolling down my face while watching the show.

It was incredible, the guy who played Evan was just so full of emotion and I can’t believe he has to do that on stage every night it is so crazy. But I really enjoyed it. I know they have a book version of the story going around now but I didn’t want to read it until I had seen the show. I wanted to be surprised.

I did listen to the soundtrack before I went to the show but aside from a general idea of what happened in the story I didn’t know exactly what I was going to be walking into and I preferred it that way. It was good to be surprised and to react to it for the first time.

So that was our final day in London. The next day we just spent travelling home so nothing too exciting.

But that was our trip! It was very relaxed and chilled out which I am glad about, it was also nice to spend quality time with my boyfriend because even though we live together now, we both still work and have other plans so while we see each other every day it’s not like we spend much of that time together. So it was a nice holiday away together.

Now that we are back, we are back to work and have to start planning for Christmas. I don’t even know what I am going to buy people this year so looks like I have a lot of work to do!

Aside from that, I imagine the rest of my year will be spent working, chilling out with friends and family and of course, reading a whole lot more! 😛

~ Courtney x

Last week my family and I took a trip to Liverpool for my niece’s birthday.

It was going to be my first family holiday and I was kind of nervous about it, because sometimes spending a lot of time with your family can be hard work. Not everyone always gets along and sometimes people can clash over opinions so it was going to be an interesting trip.

That being said, the trip actually turned out pretty well, there was the occasional little fight but nothing major so we all made it out unscathed.

We toured Anfield stadium on our first day and as someone who isn’t into football it was kind of interesting. Mainly because I had never step foot into one of those places before lol. Still I can imagine if you’re a big football fan you would have enjoyed it even more.

Then the next day we headed out on a Beatles tour bus, again not a big fan of the Beatles but I know my mum loved it. The bus took us around to the houses where the Beatles had grown up and even stopped by the infamous Penny Lane. Also our tour guide was great, he even had a guitar and was singing songs so I want to give him an extra special shout out.

After the Beatles tour, we spent the rest of the day at the Royal Albert Dock, checking out the little shops and things in the area. We also found an escape room place there so decided to give that a go. For my first ever escape room, I really enjoyed it. Sure it was a little bit frustrating but sometimes that happens during games haha.

Then the final day we spent doing some shopping before we went to the British Music Experience museum. Surprisingly this was not the biggest place, it was basically one room which was cool but I kind of expected to see more. But I still enjoyed it.

So that was our trip in a nutshell. I don’t know when the next family trip will be but I don’t think it will be for a long time. Still, it was nice to spend time with the family, since moving out I don’t see them that often, especially my sisters. That being said Christmas is right around the corner so I imagine I’ll be back home with all the fam before I know it.

In the meantime, I am going to be gearing up for my next adventure – me and my boyfriend are going to London to see Dear Evan Hansen! And I’m so excited, even though Ben Platt will probably not be there, but a girl can dream right?

~ Courtney x